Dispute leads to officer’s broken nose

A Carthage police officer suffered a broken nose while intervening in a domestic dispute outside a Carthage bar shortly after midnight Sunday.

John Hacker

A Carthage police officer suffered a broken nose while intervening in a domestic dispute outside a Carthage bar shortly after midnight Sunday.

Carthage Police Chief Greg Dagnan said Lamanda Blueford was arrested after throwing a cell phone at Carthage Police Officer Justin Butler, breaking his nose and sending her to jail on a felony charge of assaulting a law enforcement officer.

“It just serves to highlight the dangers of domestic disputes for officers,” Dagnan said. “They saw a person assaulting her and went to help her and she assaulted the officers who were trying to help her. Domestic disputes are some of the most dangerous calls we see.”

According to a written release from the police department, Carthage police officers were conducting compliance checks at a downtown Carthage bar when the saw a man physically assaulting a woman in a parking lot at Fourth and Howard streets in Carthage at about 12:20 a.m. Sunday.

They approached the two and while they were taking the man into custody for domestic assault, the women threw a cell phone at Butler, hitting him in the nose.The woman was arrested for assaulting a law enforcement.

Dagnan said the man, Joshua Clark, 31, Joplin, was charged with a city misdemeanor count of domestic assault.

Blueford was released from the Jasper County Detention Center on Monday on a bond of $10,000 surety and $750 cash.

Dagnan said Butler was treated and released from Mercy McCune-Brooks Hospital in Carthage for a broken nose and bruises on his face.

Dagnan said the injuries were not serious and he will likely not miss any time from work.